SITools2, a framework for archival systems

CNES (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales)
develops generic software systems to set up different data centres.
SITools2 is a web application under GPLV3 license, built in this
generic way and where its purpose is to offer a data access layer as a
new element of an existing archival system. CNES is helped on this
project by an Akka Technologies team, providing its expertise on web
services development using Java technologies.

An archival
system is composed of four main entities: access, data management,
data storage, ingest. Each entity is then managed through an
administration entity. SITools2 implements the access part and its
administration as well as interfaces between access and other
entities.

To reach these goals, SITools2 is highly tunable.
It allows connecting at different data sources and to expose their
contents in different ways: a REST API and/or graphical user
interfaces based on AJAX. With its opened architecture, SITools2 is
also a framework that permits developers to extend the server API,
simply integrating their own applications as plug-ins. Thus developers
can act at each steps of the data research, request and retrieval, but
also create highly-specific services. In addition, the client part of
SITools2 is also extensible by adding modules and advanced graphical
components.
Some instantiations of SITools2 are already being
customized in several data centers as LAM (Laboratoire d'Astrophysique
de Marseille) and IAS (Institut d'Astrophysique Spatial d'Orsay) to
make available their data to the scientific community. But, as a
generic tool to interface data and information sources, SItools2
intends to take part of larger projects in the scientific community.